He announced the milestone at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference yesterday, reports Gamasutra.

"To date we have about 1.25m pre-orders on Battlefield 3, so it's still well ahead of its predecessor title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, in regards to pre-orders in the same number of weeks until release,” Brown said. “So it's doing very well.”

It wasn’t clear whether this figure is retail-only but it’s likely to include pre-order numbers from EA’s Origin download service as well as High Street stores.

Brown also revealed that Battlefield 3 has a larger marketing spend than PC MMO The Old Republic.

"It's going to be a different spend curve," he added. "We have a pretty extensive campaign planned for Battlefield 3. We have the advantage of a two-and-a-half week early launch window versus our competitor and we intend to use that."

In the UK, EA’s Battlefield 3 hits shelves on October 28th while its Activision rival Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released on November 8th. In the US, Battlefield 3 arrives on October 25th.

MCV is the leading trade news and community site for all professionals working within the UK and international video games market. It reaches everyone from store manager to CEO, covering the entire industry. MCV is published by NewBay Media, which specialises in entertainment, leisure and technology markets.